A highway through hell for the truckers who haul vital goods into Islamic State territory
(Picture, by Warrick Page/For The Washington Post: Highway through hell: Drivers haul vital goods from Jordan into Islamic State territory)
Ruwaiched,Jordan -The Washington Post, by William Booth and Taylor Luck -November 29, 2014: -- It might be the most hairy truck route in the world from the Jordan border through the black heart of Islamic State territory... Some days only dozens of truckers hungry for big paydays make the vital run to deliver everything from apples to antibiotics to Iraqi civilians, many of them living under siege in territory controlled by the radical Islamist group. Since the militants took over northern and western Iraq this year, the route has become, the wheelmen say, the highway through hell... On the run to Baghdad, drivers face miles of empty, lawless road, prowled by brigands and militias, punctuated by rolling roadblocks operated by Islamic State militants in pickup trucks and purloined Hummers. The route to Mosul is worse, drivers say, following oil pipelines, narrow macadam roads and military tracks along the overrun Syrian border, with nobody left but Islamic State warriors and smuggling crews...
Sallah Ali Addin, an Iraqi driver from Fallujah, has been behind the wheel for a quarter-century in Iraq — from the Saddam Hussein era to the U.S.A. invasion and occupation, through a decade of Sunni rebellions, al-Qaeda uprisings and, now, the Islamic State. He said he has never seen the highways so perilous. “There are Iraqi government troops. They are dropping bombs out of the sky. The cities are under siege. Checkpoints. Detours. You can’t go. There are bandits — everybody wants a piece of your cargo. And between the Islamic State and the Shiite militias, you are taking your life in your hands,” he said, just returned to Jordan after a 12-day run hauling fresh vegetables from the Jordan Valley to Baghdad... A driver in his convoy, Nijm Mahmoud, called the Islamic State a “mafia” ... None of the Iraqi drivers interviewed had any firsthand knowledge of any trucker being kidnapped or killed, but they knew well the militants’ reputation for brutality... “They can shoot you on the side of the road,” Mahmoud said. “No one can do a thing” ... During Hussein’s rule, 2,000 trucks might have entered Iraq daily from Jordan, a number that gradually dropped to 400 in the years after the U.S.A. invasion, according to the Jordan Truck Owners Union... Since the Islamic State captured Mosul and large swathes of Anbar province in June, the number of trucks crossing into Iraq from Jordan has plummeted to 30 on some days, according to Mohammed Kheir Dawood, the union’s head... But as the conflict has deepened, demand for Jordanian goods has only risen in western Iraq...
(Photo by Warrick Page/For The Washington Post - Truckers wash their vehicles in the last town before the Iraqi border in Ruwaished)
Drivers working the Iraq trade can triple their usual $280 monthly salary in a week. According to the union, shipping companies are also offering bonuses, hardship pay and additional allowances for food and fuel for wheelmen willing to work the route. Owner-operators who drive their own rigs, and who now dominate the trade, can make $2,000 for a run, though they say the drives that once took several days can now last a week or two... “Is it dangerous?” said Abdul Kareem Athamat, a Jordanian driver who had just returned from a 10-day run from Amman to Basra in southern Iraq, carrying a load of potato chips... About 110 miles into Iraq, near the town of Rutba, the jihadists collect $200 to $300 from every driver... “We cannot move forward or go back until we pay $300,” said Mohammed Omar, a veteran Jordanian trucker who has been making three monthly trips to Iraq since the Islamic State began seizing land. “They say it is the tax to enter the Islamic State” ...Labels: dangerous zones, truckers' stories, trucking industry news worldwide
Khyber Pass,Afghanistan -The Road King (USA) -24 March 2009: -- ... For U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, the situation is war and the supply destination is accessible by one battle-centered road through the Khyber Pass... Three-quarters of the supplies shipped to the military stationed in Afghanistan arrive in Pakistan’s ports and must be transported to troops by truck. So the road, which connects the two countries, became a target for Islamic militants looking to weaken military operations. Trucks waiting at checkpoints and truckstops were attacked regularly, and some were even hijacked while en route... The truck drivers, who are primarily Afghan and Pakistani civilians, have persisted in the face of these considerable dangers... NATO is considering other routes, and recently received approval to move supplies through Russia and Central Asia... In the meantime, these brave drivers will continue to do what they do best — keep on rolling...
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